The Obama administration’s release of hundreds and potentially thousands of illegal-alien criminals from U.S. detention centers in connection with possible budget cuts is being called “an impeachable offense” by the nation’s highest-rated radio talk-show host.

“In what used to be considered – if we can remember this far back – normal, sane times, this is an impeachable offense,” broadcaster Rush Limbaugh said Wednesday. “This is action being taken against the country. … It is sheer madness to be doing this. It is petulant, it is childish.”

“This is in direct violation of the oath of office,” he continued. “Defend and protect the Constitution of the United States, and the people. We’re just opening the doors of prisons before the sequester has even happened. Before there have even been any budget cuts. This is so childish, except the consequences are real for people that live nearby these detention centers. This is on-the-ground, hard, cold reality.

“This is exacting harm on the country and it’s entirely unnecessary. None of these so-called budget cuts are necessary. None of this panic is necessary. It is not even going to be felt, in reality, if the sequester actually does happen.”

Limbaugh likened the president’s action to what happened in Iraq just before the U.S. invaded in the 1990s.

“That’s the kind of thing that [former Iraqi dictator] Saddam Hussein did,” he explained. “He just opened the doors to his jails and he let every reprobate that he was holding loose. He created total panic and havoc in Baghdad and throughout the country. That’s the kind of thing Obama’s done here.”

Limbaugh said the release of illegals was “clearly not in the best interests of anybody.”

“For the record, these illegals being released really are criminals; otherwise, they would never have been detained,” Limbaugh said. “It was the [Obama] regime that detained them in the first place. These are not Bush’s prisoners. These are Obama’s prisoners. They were detained and imprisoned by the regime in the first place. And let’s not forget, thanks to Obama’s executive orders, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), the immigration people, no longer detain any illegal aliens unless they’ve been convicted of a serious crime. That’s who we’re talking about here. You have to commit a serious crime before we detain you if you’re illegal. This isn’t just a bunch of discriminated-against freedom fighters that have been wrongly jailed finally seeing freedom.”

In Arizona, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu told Fox News the move was a “mass budget pardon” and suggested the administration was going to unnecessary lengths to demonstrate the impact of the so-called sequester.

“President Obama would never release 500 criminal illegals to the streets of his hometown, yet he has no problem with releasing them in Arizona. The safety of the public is threatened and the rule of law discarded as a political tactic in this sequester battle,” Babeu said.

“Clearly, serious criminals are being released to the streets of our local communities by this mass budget pardon. These are illegals that even President Obama wants to deport. This is insane that public safety is sacrificed when it should be the budget priority that’s safeguarded,” he added.

ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christiansen told the Los Angeles Times, “All of these individuals remain in removal proceedings. Priority for detention remains on serious criminal offenders and other individuals who pose a significant threat to public safety.”